Welcome to house of the commons

The Platform...

House of the Commons brings together activists, academics, professionals, campaigners and civil society to…

get informed

share ideas

build links

learn skills

dream

take action

House of the commons is a platform for events, workshops and campaigns for fairer housing and land use

Exploring creative solutions to the housing crisis

In October 2014 and 2016, architecture and design collective, Transition by Design, working in collaboration with citizens, activists and housing professionals hosted two major events concerned with the UK housing crisis, specifically focusing on Oxford, but with a UK outlook.

We had an exciting line-up of speakers, workshops, skillshares and performances examining the current context – the drivers of the crisis, and we heard from groups and individuals offering creative alternatives to these problems.

House of the Commons is intended to be participatory with a focus of self-organisation for practical action and is an open source to all people wanting to find out more about our current housing situation and where we could go next. This platform provides you with information extracted from both events, and we’re keen to offer assistance and support on your housing-related initiatives.

Root Causes

Joining the dots between the root causes to the housing crisis - addressing financialisation; banking deregulation; land ownership; supply and privatisation

land: use and value

Who owns Britain? We will be interrogating the links between land ownership and value, asking who owns and controls the land under our feet

housing for refugees and migrants

Understanding the facts; and asking how can we build effective links and solidarity across borders looking at a range of initiatives

alternative models & building for the future

Exploring the alternative models available to us now and looking long term at how we can redesign our housing system to deliver genuine affordability, security and sustainability

alternative models

Contributors

Some contributors within our network

Sara Mahmoud

Shelter

Aysen Dennis

Aylesbury Tenants & Leaseholders First

Danny Dorling

Professor of Geography, Oxford University

Alastair Parvin

Founder of WikiHouse and Architecture 00

What people say...

Feedback, comments and what people gained from HotC

Housing to me is a key battle ground in our struggle to defeat neoliberal ideology, and the inequality and social division it produces.
House of the Commons is a great opportunity to meet researchers and activists who feel the same, and to swap notes, strategies, dreams, numbers… I can’t wait!

It is a critical time to be linking struggles; the need to join the dots between the social and environmental challenges facing us has never been greater. House of the Commons is a place to make those links between housing, environment and inequality; to explore a positive alternative led by communities

Latest news

Homeless squatters potentially allowed to stay in Iffley Garage Open House until the end of winter. Last Friday, Midcounties Co-op launched a claim at Oxford County Court to get the squatters of the old VW garage on Iffley Road evicted. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse during the hearing as a plea to the co-op Read more about Iffley Open House: They’re staying![…]

Project ERIC: Residential Energy Project of 2016! Project ERIC – Energy Resource of Integrated Communities, a project by our very own Transition by Design, in collaboration with Bioregional, Moixa Technology and The Oxford Institute of Sustainable Development of Oxford Brookes University, was recently awarded the residential energy project of the year at the 2016 Energy Read more about Project ERIC, the clean energy[…]

Iffley Garage Open House Please sign here to tell Wadham College to do the right thing for homeless people this winter You may have seen Independent‘s and Oxford Mail‘s article on squatters turning Oxford University’s building into homeless shelter, and the plea to do the right thing for the homeless in Oxford. Here’s a message Read more about People need homes, empty spaces need people[…]

“Nadhira Halim and Andy Edwards report on the range of creative responses to the housing crisis that are providing secure, affordable housing across the UK” After the success of House of the Commons, members of Transition by Design wrote an article in the latest issue of Red Pepper Magazine, Utopia Now. The article outlines a Read more about HotC in Red Pepper ‘Room for All’[…]

Oxford Housing & Land Nightmare: What can communities do? Last Saturday, CAG (Community Action Group) organised a fantastic skill share in Oxford, with a range of topics from ‘How to make friends and influence people’ to ‘CAG Garderner’s Question Time’. These wide range to topics and skills are shared by experts and members of community groups Read more about HotC at CAG Skill Share[…]

“Nadhira Abdul Halim calls for some creative projects in support of asylum seekers” One of our House of the Commons team members wrote an article in the latest issue of Red Pepper Magazine. The article discusses misconceptions and myths surrounding refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, and how we need creative solutions to tackle Read more about HotC in Red Pepper ‘Creating places of refuge’[…]

Having read the inspiring article about Focus E15 Mothers I wondered how London had become a place where shaving foam companies were invited to display their advertising on the side of vacant properties but people in need of housing were denied entry to these places – how can advertising take priority over alleviating homelessness? There Read more about Those who can, buy – from Robert Holtom[…]